Ellisism

Friction between agency departments is stupid, risky and bad business.

In the digital agency, the suits and the dungarees have to get along. Creative people who appreciate the value of good account managers will dominate the next generation of agency life.

Great account people want great ideas. Don’t wait to be asked. Find the champions and support them with all you’ve got. Here are some ways to build a better creative/account relationship, get the chance to work on some projects and make everyone a success.

Don’t wait for a brief. Briefs are attached to ideas that have already hatched. By the time a brief receives approval and funding it’s passed through the risk filters and might lack the breathing room that a great idea needs. Find a collaborator who will help you sell a great idea based on what he or she knows about the client.

Look for legitimate business problems. A great account person understands the client’s business. He or she will help you understand the client’s business problems so you can come up with ideas that have a waiting audience. Working on your own, you might have great ideas but it might be impossible to fund them. In this case, you’ve wasted agency time and money.

Collaborate. There are three reasons why you should always collaborate with your account team. 1) People are more likely to support and sell an idea when they feel a sense of ownership and pride. 2) Account managers bring a marketing perspective to your creative ideas. They can spot roadblocks that you can’t see. 3) Collaboration is the best way to build trust and rapport. See, Agency life: People have to want to work with you.

Get to know each other. If you’re going to take chances and break rules, you have to be partners in crime. You need to have healthy respect and an honest relationship so that you can talk freely. Your great idea might need some tweaking or a reality check. The better you know each other, the easier this will be.

Offer to proofread briefs. Good writers will only share their draft work with someone they trust. If you’ve built a good relationship with an account manager, offer to proof the brief. He or she will appreciate the help and the you’ll have a chance to influence how the opportunity is defined.

The ad world has reinvented itself and the idea of a ‘creative department’ may not survive the evolutionary threat. In today’s agency, everyone is creative. Find an ally in the account management group and trust his or her creative ability to see, polish and sell a great idea.

The documentary Art & Copy should be mandatory viewing at agency lunch-and-learns. For best results, invite the client. A few themes emerge throughout the documentary.

1. Trust matters. In most cases, great creative is the result of senior creative staff having an open relationship with senior marketers. Personal relationships that allow for frank discussion are a must if anyone is going to be convinced to take a chance on a new idea. The sign of a great relationship is the ability to disagree (maybe even fight) without fear.

2. Opinion are essential. Behind great work is an agency with an opinion. Most great work happens when the agency is invested in the brand and has the time and budget to know it inside and out. It’s a good lesson for the pay-as-you-go hourly clients. Without a docket, even senior creatives find it difficult to invest time learning and exploring on their own.

3. Great ideas take time. Technology has reduced production time to the point where online ads can be made in less time than it takes to get a hair cut. But the creative brain still needs time to formulate great ideas. “One-hour-turnaround” sounds great if you’re buying contact lenses but it’s unlikely to produce the kind of fame and notoriety of the campaigns in this excellent film.

Thanks to Toronto writer Nelson Quintal for recommending Art & Copy almost a year ago. He’s ahead of his time.